Latest news with #MaryPeltola
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Too Much Moose Meat Blamed For Fatal 2023 Plane Crash That Killed Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola's Husband
While it definitely feels like it's been happening more frequently lately, commercial airline crashes are incredibly rare, especially considering how many miles they fly every year. Small, private planes, however, are a completely different story. So when former Alaska Representative Mary Peltola's husband, Eugene, crashed a Piper Super Cub in southwest Alaska back in 2023, it was tragic but also far from unheard of. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded its investigation into the crash and believes it knows why the plane crashed — it was overloaded with moose meat. According to the NTSB's final report, while on a hunting trip, Peltola attempted to fly out of a remote airstrip carrying moose meat and antlers. Unfortunately for Peltola, he loaded too much weight onto the plane, putting it 117 pounds or 6% over its maximum takeoff limit. He also had a set of antlers strapped to the right wing strut, which investigators said likely contributed to the crash. Had the plane not been overloaded, the antlers may have been less of an issue, but the combination of added weight and drag ultimately proved fatal. Wind was also reportedly a factor, with Clint Johnson, the NTSB's Alaska Region Chief, telling Alaska's KTUU, "Number one was, obviously, the overweight condition — no ifs, ands, or buts there. The parasitic drag from the antlers that were attached to the right wing, and then also the last thing would be the wind, the mechanical wind turbulence at the end of the takeoff area, which unfortunately, led to this accident. If you would have been able to take one of those items out, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But those things all in combination led to this tragic accident." Read more: These Are The Best Engines Of All Time, According To You Allegations Of Negligence Strapping antlers to the exterior of a small plane is reportedly fairly common in Alaska, but, at least on paper, you're still required to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration before doing so. According to the report, though, there is no evidence that Peltola's plan had been approved to do so. And while a plane's maximum takeoff weight can be the same as its maximum landing weight, that's not always the case. According to the NTSB's report, the plane likely would have still been 180 pounds over the Super Cub's landing weight, even when accounting for the fuel consumed in the air. In addition to Peltola overloading the plane, the report also states that it had undergone extensive repairs throughout its seven decades of service, and much of that work was done before the FAA updated its guidelines on repairs and restorations. The report didn't draw a conclusion one way or the other as to whether or not those repairs contributed to Peltola's crash, however, KTUU reports a lawsuit has been filed, claiming Bruce Werba and the two companies he controlled, Alaska Pike Safari's & Wilderness Adventures and Neitz Aviation, Inc., behaved negligently and caused Peltola "to fly excessive hours, to fly without adequate sleep or rest, to fly under unreasonably dangerous conditions, and to carry an external load without the required permit." The lawsuit also alleges that neither of the companies named in the suit had gotten a certificate of self-insurance from the Alaska Division of Workers' Compensation and thus deprived Peltola of the appropriate compensation. The lawsuit reportedly seeks at least $100,000 in damages, as well as a jury trial. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
NBC News
4 days ago
- NBC News
Plane was overloaded with moose meat in crash that killed Alaska lawmaker's husband, NTSB says
A plane that crashed and killed the husband of then-U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, two years ago was overloaded with moose meat and antlers, federal investigators said this week. Eugene 'Buzzy' Peltola Jr., 57, was piloting a Piper PA 18-150 Super Cub when it went down in the mountains northeast of St. Mary's on Sept. 12, 2023. The veteran pilot was working with a group of hunters who had camped out in the remote wilderness and he was ferrying away parts of a moose they had killed, officials said. The pilot did not use scales to weigh the cargo and the airplane was 117 pounds over its maximum takeoff weight, according to the NTSB's final report. Moose antlers were secured to the plane's right wing, a normal practice in Alaska. But that requires FAA sign off and there was "no evidence that such approval had been granted for the accident airplane," according to the report. The plane was carrying about 500 pounds of moose — 110 pounds of leg, 150 pounds of hind quarters, 50 pounds of ribs, 110 pounds of various other cuts and 70 pounds of antlers, NTSB records showed. "The downdrafts, along with the overweight airplane and the added drag and lateral weight imbalance caused by the antlers on the right wing, would likely have resulted in the airplane having insufficient power and/or control authority to maneuver above terrain," the report said. Shortly after takeoff, hunter Travis Hopkins was on the ground and 'recalled hearing a sputter sound and then silence,' according to previously disclosed NTSB findings. Hopkins ran to the top of a nearby hill and spotted wreckage before racing to the scene, finding "the pilot still conscious in the front seat but he had sustained facial injuries," the NTSB said. Hopkins used satellite communications to call for help at 8:48 p.m., officials said. An Alaska Air National Guard helicopter arrived at some point between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. in hopes of taking the pilot to the closest hospital about 400 miles away in Anchorage, officials said. The pilot was talking and didn't appear to be in obvious pain but "he became less responsive over the next two hours until he became non-responsive and they could no longer find a pulse," the NTSB said. The victim's "cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries, and his manner of death was accident," the NTSB said. The pilot's wife, Mary Peltola, became a national figure in August 2022 when she became the first native Alaskan to win a Congressional seat. The Democrat topped GOP rivals that included former Gov. Sarah Palin, to take the seat that had been previous held by Rep. Don Young, who died in March that year at the age of 88.
USA Today
5 days ago
- General
- USA Today
Plane was overweight with moose meat, antlers before fatal crash in Alaska, NTSB says
An Alaska plane crash that killed the husband of former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) was likely caused by excess moose meat weight and antlers on board, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board. Eugene "Buzzy" Peltola Jr. was flying a plane in a remote wilderness area in St. Mary's, Alaska, during a hunting trip on Sept. 12, 2023, when it crashed. He died from blunt force injuries a few hours after the accident, according to the NTSB. NTSB's final report about the crash, which was released July 22, said the plane was "heavily loaded" with moose meat, and antlers were mounted to its right wing without proper authorization. As a result, the plane was overloaded by more than 100 pounds, and the antlers interfered with takeoff, likely causing the crash, according to the NTSB. Plane crash: Plane crashes in Russia's far east, nearly 50 people on board feared dead Plane was carrying second load of moose meat when it crashed Peltola was transporting moose meat in two separate loads to an operating base after a hunting trip. After Peltola successfully completed a trip to transport the first load, the hunters loaded the plane, a Piper PA, more heavily with meat for the second trip, NTSB said in the report. In addition to carrying about 520 pounds of moose meat, the plane was also transporting antlers attached to the right wing during that trip. In total, the plane's weight was 117 pounds over the maximum allowed, according to the NTSB. While carrying antlers externally is a common practice in Alaska, it requires special approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, which the plane did not have, according to the NTSB. During takeoff, the plane became airborne before crashing moments later. Peltola survived the initial impact but died less than two hours later, the report said. According to the NTSB's report, the probable cause of the crash was a combination of the airplane carrying more than its maximum approved weight as well as the external load of antlers, which likely degraded the plane's performance during takeoff. Pilot who died in plane crash was husband of former Alaska congresswoman Eugene Peltola Jr. previously served as regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska before his death. He had his pilot's license since 1993, according to the NTSB. He was also married to former Rep. Mary Peltola, who served in Congress from 2022 until her reelection loss last year. Rep. Peltola's office said in a statement at the time of her husband's death that they were "heartbroken for the family's loss." "He was one of those people that was obnoxiously good at everything. He had a delightful sense of humor that lightened the darkest moments," the statement said. Former President Joe Biden also issued a statement following Peltola's death, calling him "a devoted public servant" and "friend to all." "Spend even a minute with Mary and you'll feel the love she has for her state and its people, and most of all, the love she has for her husband and their seven children," the statement said. Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at
France 24
6 days ago
- General
- France 24
Moose meat and antlers caused Alaska plane crash: report
Eugene Peltola died hours after his aircraft -- carrying over 500 pounds (225 kilograms) of moose meat -- plunged into mountains near St Mary's in southwest Alaska in September 2023. A report released Tuesday by the US National Transportation Safety Board found the hefty meat cargo meant the plane was more than 100 pounds over its takeoff weight when it left a remote airstrip in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The presence of a pair of moose antlers on the right wing strut of the plane -- a common practice in Alaska -- would likely have made flight even trickier, the report said, because of their effect on aerodynamics. Clint Johnson, the Alaska Region Chief for NTSB, was cited by local media as saying there were three main factors that contributed to the crash of the Piper PA 18-150 Super Cub. "Number one was, obviously, the overweight condition -- no ifs, ands, or buts there," he said, according to the website "The parasitic drag from the antlers that were attached to the right wing, and then also the last thing would be the wind, the mechanical wind turbulence at the end of the takeoff area, which unfortunately, led to this accident. "If you would have been able to take one of those items out, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But those things all in combination led to this tragic accident." Peltola was the husband of former US Representative Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native to sit in Congress. The Democrat beat former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in a 2022 special election, but lost her re-election bid in November last year.
New York Times
6 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Plane in Alaska Crash Was Overloaded With Moose Meat and Antlers, N.T.S.B. Says
A small plane that crashed in rural Alaska in 2023, killing the husband of a congresswoman, was weighed down by too much moose meat and faced drag from a set of antlers mounted on its right wing strut, federal investigators said on Tuesday. The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska on Sept. 12, 2023. Only the pilot, Eugene Peltola Jr., 57, the husband of former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola of Alaska, was onboard and died in the crash. 'The overweight airplane and the added drag and lateral weight imbalance caused by the antlers on the right wing,' along with downdrafts, 'would likely have resulted in the airplane having insufficient power and/or control authority to maneuver above terrain,' the National Transportation Safety Board said in its report on probable cause findings. There were also turbulent flight conditions in the area of the crash at 8:45 p.m., the time when the plane went down, the report said. Mr. Peltola had taken a group of hunters and equipment days earlier from Holy Cross, a community of about 200 people near the Yukon River, to an airstrip nearly 100 miles northwest in St. Mary's, Alaska, the agency said in its final report on the crash. The group set up camp next to the runway in St. Mary's, the report said. One day before the crash, the group bagged a moose and Mr. Peltola was asked to transport the meat. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
